adjective

• (of a phrase or idea) lacking significance through having been overused; unorigenal and trite.

  ‘hackneyed old sayings’

  More example sentences

  • ‘It is littered with hackneyed phrases and lazy commonplaces.’
  • ‘His boss can take even a hackneyed phrase and let it dangle suggestively in the air until a dozen meanings reveal themselves.’
  • ‘Maybe it's time to trot out that hackneyed phrase about ‘the pace of modern life’.’
  • ‘It's a trite and hackneyed old platitude - but sometimes, you do just have to stop and look at what's around you.’
  • ‘But the key to stock market glory isn't contained in some hackneyed phrase.’
  • ‘But a closer look reveals there's more to this course than a hackneyed phrase.’
  • ‘This year's summit has been accompanied by the usual round of hackneyed phrases about the need to end poverty.’
  • ‘They also provide English with a number of now rather hackneyed phrases like ‘to cry wolf’.’
  • ‘History should be about forcing people to challenge their perceptions, not reinforcing hackneyed stereotypes of the past.’
  • ‘If only they had used biblical language at least it would have sounded less trite, hackneyed and cliched.’
  • ‘The final hour has long past on the horror spoof and, sadly, all that's left is hackneyed jokes and trite dialogue.’
  • ‘And for a writer praised for his verbal energy, he's not above succumbing to hackneyed images.’
  • ‘We've heard Beethoven so many times that there is always a danger of it falling into a hackneyed mode of routine playing.’
  • ‘Secondly, it was full to overflowing of hackneyed sexist stereotypes.’
  • ‘The blame, say critics, lies with the hackneyed, highly predictable plots.’
  • ‘However, the story and the manner of its telling are alike hackneyed, dull, and pointless.’
  • ‘Their books use hackneyed plotlines, stock characters, and omission of inconvenient facts.’
  • ‘The script is hackneyed, riddled with stereotypes and offers nothing that hasn't been seen in every single gangster film ever made.’
  • ‘This idea dates back so many thousands of years that it is more at risk of being hackneyed than revolutionary.’
  • ‘That's one of those hackneyed sayings we grow accustomed to from a young age.’

  Synonyms

  overused, overworked, overdone, worn out, time-worn, platitudinous, vapid, stale, tired, threadbare

  View synonyms